TrueCrypt 5 pick

Description: TrueCrypt is a free, open source encryption program. It works by mounting an encrypted file as a virtual hard drive and encrypting/decypting all read/write operations on-the-fly. It can also encrypt entire partitionsor storage mediums such as USB drives, memory sticks, and floppy disks.

Version tested: 4.2a
This ishow this program works:

• Encryption Algorythms: TrueCrypt offers a number
  of encryption alogorythms including Blowfish, Serpent, Twofish, CAST5
  and others. It will also allow the use of a so-called cascade of different ciphers; i.e.applying a number of these sequentially(I you don’t know what any of this means forget it; its just to say that the data is EXTREMELY secure).
• Creation of an encrypted file: you’ll have to
  determine how much encrypted storage you want. If, say, you choose to
  create a 100 meg volume you will have to create a 100 meg file
  somewhere on you hard drive. The contents of this file will be
  completely inaccessible when TrueCrypt is not mounting/decrypting it
  (including file and folder names and structure). Someone snooping
  around your computer might see that the file is there, but it will look
  like random data. If you want to make the file hidden from the file
  system, you can either use TrueCrypt to encrypt an entire partition or
  put your file on a hidden partition (hiding/unhiding partitions is a
  simple Windows registry function; a program like TweakUI can do it; to
  create a partition you can use Gparted).
• USB drives: TrueCrypt needs to either be installed
  on the machine on which you wish to view the data, or otherwise can be
  available on the USB drive in portable format. For a tutorial on how to
  do this go here; or go here for a nice script that can help you out.
• Supports “2 levels of plausible deniability”:
  this, in English, means that you can create 2 passwords, a ‘real’
  password that gives access to your sensitive data, and a ’safe’ passwos
  that will grant access to a bunch of harmless stuff should you be in a
  situation where you are forced to give out your password.
• Note that although you have to pre-define the size of your
  encrypted volume. This means that the space you select will be taken up
  and will not be available to Windows. However, on NTFS volumes
  TrueCrypt supports creating encrypted ’sparse’ files that grow to
  accomodate your data up to a certain max file size. The drawback is
  that these offer lower performance and security thresholds, and I
  wouldn’t recommend them.
• You can change your password without having to transfer your data to a new container and/or losing data.

This program is the real deal. Unlike other ‘folder locking’
applications that can be circumvented by booting in safe mode or
booting from a cd (or even worse, by terminating the process in Task
Manager), the only way to access the data is to mount it using
TrueCrypt. The best thing about TrueCrypt, as far as I am concerned, is
that it is extremely fast; I’ve found that mounting a massively huge
2GB encrypted archive is almost instantaneous (as is unmounting it).

I’ve tried a number of free and ‘lite’ encryption programs and this
one is my clear favorite in terms of real security and convenience. Its
also 100% free and continuously getting better
Compatibility: Microsoft Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Linux. Vista version promised.

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Tags: freewaresecurity

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